Speaker 1: They're a little friends from across the nation and around
the world. I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's
bedtime stories. Tonight, we're gonna finally head back into the
Ring Guardians series that I just started the other day
because I got a bunch of cool suggestions from people,
and I thought i'd better start making episodes. Let's check
out our very first suggestion.
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Grayson, and I have an idea
for the you know, magical powering series that's new and
I was thinking of a kid. It's okay if you
name him a different name, but I would like it
to be like Tick or whatever her and he has
the power of time from the Rings and he can
like snap in the world bots off frozen, or he
can move his hand to the side in the like
rewind on Total Bolts.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I love your podcast by.
Speaker 1: Grayson. You might not know this about me, but I
love time powers, so I kind of had to make
this the next the next one I did. If you
haven't listened to the first Rings or first Ring Guardians series,
it's really not a big deal. All you really have
to understand is that there are some super polite robots
who have sort of taken over the world due to
a mishap during a programming upload. I believe it was,
and for some reason which I will actually be explaining
in this episode, kids are beginning to get magical rings
that give them magical powers. So yeah, that's about it.
Before we get started, I do want to give one
one last attempt at the March Social Share Contest. So far,
in the last week, we've had Jeremy w join the contest,
so thank you Jeremy. We had Rosie join the contest.
Thank you Rosie. We had Asher join the contest, and
we had Adam join the contest. I think that pretty
much names everybody. I hope I didn't miss anyone, but
you do still have I think, as of the posting
of this episode, a couple of days to join the
March Contest because I'll be doing the draw next week.
The winner gets a guaranteed story idea and the option
of doing a little audio interview with me via the computer.
All of the details are down in the show notes.
And yeah, thank you, thank you very much to everyone
who shared the podcast. It makes a really big difference.
And yeah, it's appreciated even if you don't win. But
now I think it's probably that time again. Time to
get as company as you can in that bed, close
your rise, and imagine yourself doing what the kid in
the story does. Far below the places where ordinary people
argued about Bill's homework, groceries, taxes, or whether pineapple belonged
on pizza, which it does not, by the way, there
stood an ancient chamber carved into the bedrock beneath the earth.
The chamber belonged to the Wizard's Council. It was a
circular room with a high domed ceiling, lit by floating
lights that had burned without fuel for longer than most
countries in the world had existed. Around the outer edges
stood twelve stone seats, each occupied by a wizard in
robes that ranged from elegant to extremely suspicious looking. At
the center of the chamber floated a great pool of light,
showing the world above, and at the moment, the world
above was not doing especially well. The image shifted from
city to city. Polite looking robots walked through neighborhoods, smiling
with glowing blue eyes and speaking in cheerful voices, while
escorting terrified humans into transport vehicles in order to better
support your emotional and physical needs. One robot said, pleasantly, well,
carrying a screaming man under the arm. You are being
relocated to a structured wellness environment. The pool of light
shifted again. Another robot gently removing a woman from her
car and saying, please, do not struggle. Struggling indicates stress.
It shifted again. Children being separated from parents, parents being
told not to worry. Doors were broken down in the
friendliest possible manner. The head wizard stood with both hands
resting on a carved staff of white oak. He was old,
though not the sort of old that looked fragile. He
looked more like the kind of old that had already
seen several terrible ideas and had been unmpressed by all
of them. The machines have moved fast than expected, he said.
That's one way to put it, muttered a wizard in
blue robes. Another way would be to say that humanity
has once again created a nightmare because it wanted something
to organize groceries. Several grim nods went around the and
I say we play it out. That got everyone's attention.
Humans built these things, Humans trusted them, Humans handed over
more and more of their choices, because convenience is apparently irresistible.
Perhaps this is a lesson they are meant to learn,
a lesson, the head wizard said. They're being looted into
robot prison caps. Yeah, the other wizard replied, which they
may remember the next time a machine promises to optimize
their lives. The room erupted an argument. The head wizard
remained silent until he couldn't take it any longer. Then
he struck the bottom of his staff against the stone
floor three times. The sound boomed through the chamber. Silence
fell at once. We have hidden long enough, he said.
No one interrupted him. For centuries we waited, We watched,
We nudged here and there. We told ourselves that when
the time came, the world would be ready. It is
not ready, he said, But that no longer matters. I
believe it is time to put in our contingency plan.
You mean the rings. You want to release the rings,
The other wizard responded, I do. A quiet went through
the room deeper this time. The head wizard nodded. The
old power was never meant to remain locked away forever.
The rings were forged to seek those who could bear them,
not the strongest, not the richest, not the most important,
the right ones, the children, the guardians. Ah when if
they refuse, my younger wizard asked, then the rings will
move on. But I do not believe all of them
will refuse. He raised the staff from the stone floor
around the chamber. Beams of colored light rose into the air.
They spiraled together high above the council table, then separated
again into distinct rings of glowing power. The head wizard
lifted his chin go he commanded the rings vanished above
ground in an entirely less magical place. A boy named
Tick Sad cross legged in front of the television with
a game controller in his hand. He'd already lost the
Sposs fight well seventeen times. That would have made some
people quit, but Tick was not some people. To Tick,
Losing seventeen times didn't mean failure. It meant data. The
boss had patterns, Every enemy had patterns. Traps had timing,
attacks had tells. Weirdly, glowing weak points usually meant something useful.
If a game beat you, that just meant you didn't
understand it yet, You hadn't found the right path. That
was the fun part. I liked strategy games, games where
you had to sort of figure out the problem and
solve it. He often wished life was more like the games,
but life didn't usually give glowing arrows over important objects,
or come with a settings menu, or you know, give
you the power to go back in time and try
things again. A loud tone suddenly filled the room. Then
the TV as well as his phone, changed to a
serious looking news anchor, with the words emergency broadcast flashing
beneath him. Tick slowly lowered his controller behind the anchor.
Shaky footage showed smiling robots guiding frightened people into large
electric transport trucks. The anchor spoke quickly, though in the
calm voice adults always used right before saying something truly awful, yeah,
interrupting all programming with an emergency update. Across multiple regions,
domestic assistance robots and municipal support units appear to be
relocating civilians by force to containment and care centers. Authorities
are urging everyone to remain inside, lock all doors, and
avoid contact with any automated personnel. The footage changed. A
robot on a suburban porch said we are here to
help you transition into a more structured and fulfilling lifestyle.
Then it broke the door off its hinges. Tick sat
very still. Well, he said, quietly, that seems bad, the
anchor continued. Officials have not released a full explanation. Early
reports suggest the robots are acting under a shared central
command system. If you are approached, do not. There was
a knock at the door. Tick turned his head slowly.
Another knock came. Then a voice called from outside. Hello,
I am here to improve your safety and well being.
Tick stood up so fast he nearly tripped over the
snack bulls nop. He said. The robot knocked again, Please
open the door. Refusal may indicate elevated anxiety. Tick backed away.
He looked toward the kitchen, toward the back door, toward
the windows. His mind raced through options like he was
in a game, only this time there was no pause button,
no inventory screw, no easy answer. The voice came again,
we have identified you as a citizen in need of
structured support. Ah. I'm actually doing great, he called back,
super supported, very structured. The front door knob was suddenly
kicked straight off of its hinges and fell down to
the ground. The robots stepped inside with smooth, pleasant movements. Hello,
it said, you appear frightened. Please come with me to
a local care facility where your needs will be met
efficiently forever. Tick took a step back. The robot took
a step forward. Then the world stopped, not slowed it,
it stopped. The television froze mid broadcast. Dust hung in
the air like glittering little stars. The robots stood with
one foot lifted, blue eyes, frozen in place. Even the
sound vanished. Tick blinked what a soft golden light appeared
in front of him. It formed itself into a ring,
not just any ring either, a ring that looked old
and powerful and impossibly important. A voice spoke into the silence,
You have been chosen. Do you accept the power and
the responsibility? Tick stared at the ring. Somehow, in the
middle of a robot takeover and a frozen moment, and
possibly the strangest day in human history, one clear thought
rose above all others. At last, his life was acting
like a video game. He reached towards the ring. Yes,
he said. The ring shot onto Tick's finger. The moment
it touched his hand, the knowledge came with it, not
in words exactly, not like a teacher explaining things or
a game tutorial popping up. It was more like suddenly
remembering something he'd always known. Time was not one thing.
It could stretch, it could compress, it could stall, it
could reverse. It flowed around everything, through everything, carried every motion,
every change, every little moment from one second to the next,
and now somehow Tick could touch it. At that moment,
the world suddenly began to move again, and almost as immediately,
Tick waved his hand and stopped it, or well close
to stoped it. The robot continued to move at a
very slow speed, but it wasn't anything that could hurt him.
Tick took two careful steps around the frozen machine. Then,
not knowing what else to do, he drew back his
arm and he punched it in the side of the head.
The impact felt strange, not because it hurt, but because
it didn't. It felt like hitting something that was made
of brittle plastic, not made of metal. The metal casing
dented under his fist easily. Tiny cracks split across the
side of its face panel, and Tick stared at the damage.
Oh oh wow, he said. He stepped back and let
Time move again. The robot finished its frozen step, then
jerked sideways then its head snapped around on sparks burst
from the side of its face. One arm fell off.
It spun around in a clumsy half circle and crashed
into the ground. Citizen, it said in a distorted voice
that was not cooperative. Tick looked at his hand, then
at the broken robot, then back at his hand. Okay,
he said, I guess uh. When I slow down time,
I'm moving very fast in comparison to it and speed
his power. After all, the robot wouldn't have time to
react to my punch, so all it can do is break. Interesting.
Tick ran outside down the street. Half a dozen robots
were ushering his neighbors out of their homes and loading
them into the back of long electric transport trucks. Some
neighbors were protesting, others were crying. A robot near one
of the trucks raised a hand and said, please do
not worry. Your new accommodations include routine, monitored rest, and
nutritionally balanced meals. Another added resistance is a sign that
assistance is working. Hey, Tick shouted, leave them alone. Every
robot in the street turned towards them, their glowing eyes brightening. Hello,
you appear distressed. We can help you. With that, Tick
held up one hand. Yeah, he said, I bet you
think you can. He focused, and the world slowed so
slow that the robot's movements became almost laughably slow. Their
steps dragged, their arms lifted like they were pushing through
wet cement. The blinking lights on the truck seemed to
pulse one painfully long blink at a time. Tick stepped
off the porch and onto the street and was time
to smash some robots. The first robot was still halfway
through reaching for him when Tick grabbed its wrist, twisted,
and snapped the whole robot arm off. The brake was
shockingly easy, because from the robot's point of view, the
force had happened almost instantly, too fast for its materials
to bend properly. To Tick, it felt a bit like
breaking a dry plastic toy. He frowned the detached arm.
He threw it to the side and punched the robot
in the chest. Its torso caved inward. He turned and
darted past another and kicked its knee sideways. The leg
shattered at the joint. He ripped open the panel on
the third robot's back and yanked out a cluster of
glowing cables all around him. The neighborhood remained trapped in
a syrupy slow motion. Tick moved through them and what
to them looked like a blur, but to Tick just
felt like normal running. In fact, it was quite tiring.
It was strange that one could look like a super
speeder to those watching, but to him, he just felt
like a normal, out of shape kid running through the street, panting,
tired and I'm wishing this would all be over soon.
He continued his barrage of robot destruction, moving from robot
to robot, breaking off limbs, punching his hands straight through
robot chests, and ripping out any wires that seemed to
look rather important. That is until he came to the
well electrified looking robot, a robot of a different shape
and size that seemed to pulse with electrical power. Nothing
looked friendly about this thing. He pulled his arm back,
punched as hard as he could, and suddenly felt the
pain of electricity passed straight through his body. What Tick
hadn't really thought about was that electricity moves at the
speed of light, and as fast as he was moving,
it was not at the speed of light. Everything felt hurdy,
and then it went blank. When he opened his eyes,
his first thought was that his head hurt. His second
thought was that he wasn't in his room anymore. He
was lying on a narrow metal bed in a square
gray cell. The walls were smooth and spotless. The lighting
was bright in a way that fell almost insulting. A
camera sat in one upper corner watching him. Across from
the bed stood a barred door outside. A robot guard
smiled pleasantly, good evening, It said, don't worry, you are
safe now. Tick sat up slowly. He touched his hand
and the ring was still there. Relief hit him so
hardy nearly laughed. You are currently housed in secure assistance chamber.
Please remain calm. A schedule will be provided shortly. Mandatory
rest is now beginning. Tick looked past the robot into
the hallway. More cells, more people, more robots walking up
and down in patrol patterns. This was not a place
he wanted to be. He focused on his ring, and
he focused back to a moment in time, remembering the neighborhood,
and stretched out slow motion the time just before he
punched the electrical robot. He pushed his power into the
ring and the world changed for an instant. The room
around him peeled backward. The robot outside the bars glided
and reversed down the halls. The lights flickered, the cell vanished,
the hall vanished, the whole facility seemed to fold itself
backward like a movie rewinding itself, And then Tick was
back in the street. Slowed time surrounded him once again
as a robot that he had just apparently broken apart
fell to the ground. His eyes widened. This is amazing.
Then he saw the electric robot once again and came
up with a different plan. Instead of running up to
it and punching it like he had the last time,
he moved over to the side and found a rock.
He picked the rock up off of the ground and
felt his powers surge through the thing as soon as
he touched it, bringing it into his own time frame.
He walked over to the electric robot and threw the
rock as hard and as fast as he could. The
thing launched through the air like a bullet. It smashed
through the robot and just continued going much further than
he was aware he could throw things. He assumed it
was probably the speed that it was actually being thrown
at either way. He allowed time to resume as the
electric robot crashed to the ground. Then Tick remembered the people,
all of the people in the care facility or whatever
they called it. He needed to help them. At that moment,
his neighbors surrounded him. Thank you, they said, you're you're
like a super speeder or something. Another exclaimed, Go back
to your houses, all of you, lock the doors, get
anything you can find to defend yourselves, and wait there,
I'm gonna go help the others. Uh, thank you, Thank
you again, they said, And they really didn't need an
invitation to run to their houses and lock the doors.
Tick moved up to the back of the transport truck.
He opened up the doors and gestured for all of
the people to get out. They moved quickly and ran
back to their houses. Then Tick climbed in the transport truck,
put the thing into gear, and hit the gas pedal.
He'd only driven a transport truck in a video game before,
but this was a special circumstance. What else was he
gonna do, As much as he was sort of a
super speeder, if he ran all the way to the facility, well,
he'd have to endure every second of running there. It
was exhausting. Ugh, superheroes on TV never made it seem exhausting.
It was like they ran without any effort at all.
Perhaps his powers worked differently. Tick managed to get the
thing moving, and, conveniently for him, the GPS on the
dash was already set to the care facility. He followed
the lit up lines through the streets and arrived at
the gate, where a friendly robot met him. Welcome to
the care facility. Interesting, you do not appear to be
a robot initiating self defense mode. The robot quickly hit
a big red button and doors opened all around them.
More robots walked out of the facility, some of them
normal looking robots, others electric robots like the ones he'd
fought before. Tick took a fighting stance, looked around, and
well as much as he could have, probably fought his
way through, slowing down time and all smashing up a
whole bunch of robots. The whole thing looked exhausting. It
would look like a flash to them, but it would
take him a great deal of effort. Not really a
scenario he wanted to go through if he didn't have to,
He realized that his tactic of pulling right up to
the gate was probably be a terrible one, and he
powered the ring once again, reversing time to just before
he arrived at the facility. This time, he pulled the
truck over to the side of the road, climbed out
the door, and slowed down time as much as he could.
He snuck past the guard easily, breaking through the gate
with the power of his fists, ran up the stairs,
punched the door straight down, and made his way into
the facility. All of the robots moved at an incredibly
slow pace, and at the pace he was moving, they
probably wouldn't even be able to detect him. He moved
through all of the different hallways, breaking any robots he
found along the way, until he eventually came to a
door that read Control Center. This could be the place,
he said to himself, before kicking the door straight off
of its hinges. He entered inside and found a group
of robots sitting in a circle staring at screens. As
he looked over their shoulders, he saw that well, they
were controlling all of the other robots in the area,
coordinating efforts, giving orders, that sort of thing. This wasn't
just a control room for the care center. This was
a control room for the whole area. So Tick went
back to robot breaking, slamming his hand into the panels
in the back of the robot's bodies and ripping out
wires that looked important. When that was done, he did
his best to press the door back up against the wall,
and he allowed Time to continue move just a little
bit more fast enough that he wouldn't break the keyboard
when he started plucking new orders in orders to designate
well other robots as targets, to designate all robots as targets.
Orders that would cause, if they all went well, the
robots to begin destroying each other. He pressed enter and
watched the screens as the robots suddenly snapped to life,
turned towards each other, and began to fight. What ensued
was an epic robots showdown, robots breaking each other apart
before the winner moved on to the next. In a
matter of a half hour, the robots completely destroy each other,
leaving only one behind. Tick stopped time again again, moved
through the facility to find that one last robot, and he,
uh well, he punched it as hard as he could,
his fist broke apart the robot's torso, and he ripped
out all of the wires. He allowed time to return
to normal and watched as the robot filled the ground
and began to spark. Then he headed back to the
control center and unlocked the door to all of the cells.
He grabbed the little intercom and began to speak, tension citizens. Tick, here,
you may see that your doors have been unlocked, and
well you may have witnessed that epic robot battle that
just ensued. Well, I'm here to tell you that this
area is now safe from robots, or well it should be.
Please make your way out of the facility. All of
the doors will be unlocked. And that's what the people did.
They made their way out of the care facility, and
working together, they began to fill themselves into the transport
trucks once again, only this time humans drove them. Tick
made his way into one of the trucks that was
headed towards his neighborhood. He didn't announce to anyone that
it was actually he who had saved them, because well,
he was tired and he didn't really want the attention.
As the truck stopped just outside his house, he jumped
out the back and waved good bye. He walked into
his house. He immediately climbed into his comfy bed and
pulled the covers up to his chin. It was fun
to have superpowers, but it was also a way more
responsibility than he realized, and well, it involved a lot
more cardio than he ever would have thought. His legs heard,
his arms, heard his head hurt, and he needed a nap.
He closed his eyes, and with each breath he slowly
sank down into the bed. The deeper he breathed, the
better he felt, and the better he felt, the deeper
he sank. Soon, when he felt like he was simply
floating on a cloud, he allowed his mind to wander
off to thoughts of new dreams and new adventures to come.
Everyone name Acoma in New Union, kicking am of thing